January 10
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Trades Taken: 2
Trade Plan
Plan: Very clean trading day on Wednesday (markets were closed yesterday). A dip this morning with 8:30 numbers release, we’ll see if we recover, stabilize, or keep falling into the open. Loads of support just below for SPY, 57985 all the way to 574.58 is nice for a long. Wide range on that, so I need to be picky on entries. Both markets have previous close and moving averages for a short opportunity. While markets are about to open halfway between levels, the needed move is wide, I need about 5 point movement in either direction for a proper trigger. Let’s see if Friday volatility gives that to us.
Result: Markets with a dip out of the gate, turning into trend formation, exaggerated with 10:00 on the dot sell off into levels. I scalped SPY twice with SPY 581 calls first, then SPY 580 calls. Both trades played very well as we were not at a proper level, I played peaks and valleys here with no greed.
I was very tempted to take the sell off into proper trigger. Why didn’t I!? The sell off came on the heels of 10:00 spike. I go for natural movement, proper technical movement. Either way, I take my profit on first reaction.
January 8
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Trades Taken: 2
Trade Plan
Plan: Bounces where appropriate yesterday, but overall a nice sell off on the markets. Being able to capture two longs on a day like yesterday builds confidence.
I like gap fills below for the longs on both markets. Next comes discussion of the short. If there is distance into moving averages, yes I like that short. But if there is no distance and we head up, I would prefer to see it blast through so I could take a long on the remount test of moving averages with previous close as protection. How we open and where we open relative to moving averages will likely play an important part of the morning move.
Result: Markets started with a dip this morning, I go with calls to start. Went with SPY 585 calls two separate times. Premium charts are wonky for me this morning, but entries and exits are showing fine. Nailed two pivots within this trade for two very nice consolidation moves. Switched to QQQ 518 puts once we broke through highs and previous close, getting us nice and lose to moving averages for a short. Consistent base hits.
January 7
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Trades Taken: 2
Trade Plan
Plan: Clean trading yesterday, forming a bit of a doji off the trend. I remove trendlines after they test to try and clean up the chart.
Slight gap up this morning. SPY previous close for a long , would need to reset at moving averages as they are wide into next gap fill of 592. For the short I like the starting at yesterday’s highs, adding into 601.34 gap, could very well see upper trend today if we squeeze. QQQ is a little more tricky. I like low of day for a long, but I want to see where moving averages open up, they didn’t test yesterday.
Markets will be closed on Thursday to observe the passing of former president Jimmy Carter. I am curious to see if there is anything off with the option premium this week with a market closure.
Result: Markets dipped out of the gate, I go with calls. Went with QQQ 522 calls as we had nice speed and distance. Today was just a starter position as we came into the 20 ma, I knew we had protection at level (low of day) and moving averages just below. Nailed the low here, and out as we pushed into first target, which today was 20%. Nice speed and distance out of the gate.
Markets continued to drop, I pounced on QQQ 519 calls with a killer trade. SPY lining up for a gap fill trade at this time (paired with speed and distance) gave me the confidence to use more size on this trade.
January 6
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Trades Taken: 2
Trade Plan
Plan: Decent sized gap up this morning to start the week. Both markets gapping right into trend. Short at the trend would have been a play this morning, but it triggered premarket, so looking higher for the short. SPY I like gap fill up at 601 if we break through trend and the 20 ma. Two gap fills below for longs, 595 and 592.60. For QQQ I like a potential quick test of 526, but prefer the higher short at gap fill 529.60. For the long, I like 518.58 gap. Wide range today for a proper level test on this gap up.
Result: Market pushed out of the gate, I went with SPY 598 puts for a first reaction, stopped out on the last piece. Took another short trade with SPY 601 puts as a “half-way” trade. I thought the market could push harder and higher, but worked nicely here and got the reaction I was looking for. In total, I wanted to work SPY short, had to reset on strike prices due to initial push and squeeze.